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Champion

A short story by Alex Pinfold

Chapter One: SNACKS AND GAS

The tangled streets lay against the gentle slope of a dusty hillside, a mighty geodesic dome towering over them and the thousands of inhabitants that walked them or sped along them on small hover scooters. The mauve sky was darkening beneath the inky blackness of space, the star that lit the planet gradually vanishing beyond the horizon. Hundreds of thin yellow and white streaks became visible, the rocket trails of spacecraft arriving on or leaving the planet or simply passing by. Outside of the dome lay thousands of miles of uninhabitable desert awaiting the terra-form process, itself many years behind schedule, beyond which the mines worked tirelessly night and day. The scene’s splendour went unnoticed by one figure, dressed in black, as she stealthily entered a narrow passage and left the busy hustle and bustle of the colony behind. She could not even remember the name of the planet. Her business was the only important thing and so, as far as the girl was concerned, the planet had no name. Flicking her long black hair over her shoulder, the appearance of the girl was deceptive. She seemed to be no older than her late teenage years or early twenties, but was in reality ageless. An immortal, created by alien technology wielded by an equally timeless traveller in the eternity, the girl had lived so long that even her own names had lost their meaning. Her present travelling companion had however known her at the beginning by her birth name and so, for the sake of good communication and to keep Clara Oswald happy, her name was Ashildr once again.

Though the passage was in reality a narrow street, the clutter between the tall buildings either side that covered it over gave the impression of an indoor corridor. Numerous small doors lined the otherwise nondescript concrete walls, and Ashildr stopped by one that was emblazoned with a blue hued and singular symbol denoting some unfamiliar mythical creature. The note had specified a very specific and complex knock to identify the small number of clients expected for the clandestine and slightly illegal gathering. Ashildr neither remembered nor cared what the secret knock was supposed to be, pounding urgently against the door with the base of her fist. She repeated this twice more before the door finally opened a crack and the nervous face of an older woman peered around it. Ashildr did not speak, merely raising the written invitation while keeping a tight grip upon it. Slowly and cautiously, the woman opened the door and allowed the visitor inside. Walking swiftly along a corridor and down a steep flight of narrow steps, Ashildr never looked back or saw the woman again. Behind her back, Ashildr had heard the woman giving careful instructions about another series of secret knocks to gain safe access to the event in the cellar. She had not listened to them, and instead kicked the door open with her boot before stepping sideways into the room and hurling the man who tried to assail her through the air and into the wall with a sickening thud as his head struck the plaster and cracked it from floor to ceiling. He slid silent and unconscious to the floor, his left wrist broken by Ashildr’s twist of it as she threw him. The other three occupants of the room stood up in alarm from the small circular table in the far corner. The young woman of Earth Oriental origin was obviously the person she had come to see. The two men by her carried briefcases and clearly were fellow attendees.

One of the men ran from the room and fled up the stairs. So, that was one less opponent when the bidding started. Two other men, both dressed in the informal faux uniforms of the guard she had dealt with already, rushed into the room but were stopped in their tracks by a raised hand from the Oriental woman. Instead, they dragged their fallen colleague from the room and shut the door as they departed. The three people remaining in the basement room stared coldly at each other and took their seats around the small table without lowering their guard for an instant. The woman was the hostess, and the reason for the gathering was locked inside a small wooden box on the table in front of her. She gave no name, but introduced the two bidders to each other. The man was tall with dark brown hair and a lean, almost cruel but also calm and placid face. His name was Champion, but whether that was a proper name like Mr Champion or an adopted name like The Champion or simply what it said on the tin she had no idea. She did not care. He would lose the auction, she would never see him again, it did not matter who he was. The woman opened the box and both Ashildr and her rival leaned forwards instinctively, losing sight of their prize once more as the lid flipped shut.

“Please” said the Oriental woman; “start your bidding for The Seer Stone...”“How do we know it’s the genuine article” asked Ashildr“Fair question” agreed Champion, his voice unexpectedly smooth.“Touch the box” said the woman, turning to Ashildr; “You first...”

Ashildr rested her right hand on the box and, even though not touching the dazzling red stone itself, she felt its power tingling through her fingers. She was still acutely aware of the room around her, but in her mind’s eye she was running through the busy streets of the city. Lifting her hand, Ashildr watched as Champion rested his own hand and watched as his expression changed slightly before he too lifted his hand and nodded in confirmation.

“Ladies first” said Champion, nodding to Ashildr and unfastening his briefcase.“Ten million Galactic Credits” smiled Ashildr, taking a card from a bag and placing it on the table.“One hundred million” said Champion, placing ten of the cards on the opposite side of the table.“...and a space yacht, Martian racing class!” said Ashildr, slamming another card down.“...and a space liner, a fully fitted Andromedan cruise ship!” smiled Champion.“...with the deeds to the planet Khartulu XII too!” exclaimed Ashildr.“...or the deeds to the whole Vonryan System!” countered Champion.“...and the Peladon crown jewels!” shouted Ashildr“You don’t have those...” said Champion; “...or do you?”“Not yet” confessed Ashildr; “but I can get them!”“Doesn’t count” argued Champion, watching as Ashildr pulled a circular metal can from her bag and slammed it down in front of them; “and what’s in that?” he asked incredulously.“The Tenth Planet, episode four...” smirked the victorious Ashildr“Ah...” faltered Champion; “...only one way forward here...”

Reaching into his briefcase, as though pulling out another bargaining chip, Champion pulled out a revolver and thrust the muzzle into the forehead of their startled hostess. It was an old Earth type of gun, invisible to the energy weapon searches employed to scan arrivals to the colony. As he grasped the wooden box it tipped, the stone tumbling onto the table. He and Ashildr reached desperately out for it simultaneously, Champion’s hand closing around it but itself within Ashildr’s firm grasp.

Ashildr knelt in the sand, the heat of the Sun oppressive as she looked around at the rows of white tents and canvas canopies. Men walked back and forth around her, all wearing khaki uniforms. She was the only woman. The accent of the voices drifting through the haze was familiar. This was Earth, a period she had lived through but not a place she had seen. Mountains faced her, while from behind was the unmistakable roar of the sea. The vision swam and she tumbled down until she was standing face to face with Champion; they were still in the dunes of the vision but he also held the gun from the auction in his hand, but now she held a rifle. Both weapons were aimed towards each other...

The vision ended with a blinding flash and Ashildr found herself landing hard on the cellar floor as a blow from the butt of Champion’s gun sent pain lancing through her head. Struggling to rise, Ashildr stared in anger and dismay as Champion pulled up his sleeve to reveal a Time Vortex Manipulator on his left wrist. After making a few adjustments, he faded from sight with the Seer Stone in his hand. The Oriental woman gathered the contents of the table into a cloth sack and swiftly exited the room with the spoils from both bidders. Staggering to the door and pulling it open, Ashildr realised that she faced a dilemma of whether to chase the woman or the stone. Deciding to pursue Champion, for he not only had the stone but had added striking her to the crime of theft, Ashildr ran up the stairs and through the passage into the main street. Her mind was racing, for the trail left by the device on his wrist might be too faint to follow. In which case, the vision shared between them while they both held the Seer Stone might be her only lead. The accents of the soldiers had she now realised been Australian, and a military beachhead in a desert like and mountainous region and in the period of the uniforms could only be one place and time.

The back streets and local traders soon gave way to the glamour of the main thoroughfares with the instantly recognisable Galactic brand names and coffee bars. Tourists wandered in front of Ashildr as she hurried back to the Tardis, clutching their shopping bags and ice creams and stepping out of the way of the determined young woman shoving her way through the crowds. Rounding a bend in the street and running past an impressive fountain, the huge central plaza where she had landed came back into view. Within the building, shops on several mezzanine levels surrounded a large open floor space that was today occupied by a large white rectangular cuboid with doors at one end beneath the lettering SNACKS AND GAS in block capitals. People other than herself entering and leaving by means of those doors escaped Ashildr’s attention she until stepped inside, addressing her travelling companion who stood behind the bar counter. The families drinking milkshakes and eating burgers also failed to register for a whole two seconds after entering the diner facade of the Tardis’ present shape.

“Clara, we have to...” Ashildr began, before sliding to a stop; “what the...”“Fries!” shouted Clara; “who wants fries to go before we shut?”“Seriously?” asked Ashildr, tilting her head quizzically.“Well, we are a diner” answered Clara, rapidly handing the children fries as they filed out.“No...” explained Ashildr slowly; “this is a time machine that just looks like a diner”“Not time machine in public!” hissed Clara; “anyway, I like running the diner part”“Drink your milkshake before you end up in the Stone Age...” said Ashildr to a confused girl.“Bye!” called Clara as the last diners wandered outside; “so, where to now?”“We need to leave, now!” ordered Ashildr, pushing Clara into the console room“What’s the rush?” demanded Clara; “did you not get what you wanted?”“No” said Ashildr, entering coordinates and dematerialising the Ship.“What do I need to ask the wardrobe for?” asked Clara“We’re going somewhere hot” said Ashildr; “but it’s also Earth in the early twentieth century so you still need to dress up. Actually, you can run the diner all you like while I chase after someone...”“Hold on a minute” said Clara; “why am I not invited to join in the fun?”“Because I’m not inviting you” said Ashildr, rubbing the fading bruise where Champion had struck her with the revolver; “because it’s personal and I didn’t see you in the vision”“What vision?!” demanded Clara, getting frustrated.“When we have what I want, then I’ll tell you all about it” said Ashildr; “apart from that, how’s you?”“Still a bit weird” replied Clara; “still can’t get used to this time locked thing. I feel totally normal, like I can eat and sleep and breath and obviously the bloods still getting to my brain because I haven’t passed out or anything, but there’s still no pulse...”“Good” said Ashildr; “because the next one of those is your last”“Yeah... but dead and alive at the same time” mused Clara; “am I now like a vampire or something?”“Can you turn into a bat and fly back to the bedroom?” asked Ashildr“Don’t be daft” said Clara, laughing“Or if you feel thirsty, would you rather have a nice bottle of Burgundy or suck on the end of an intravenous drip?” asked Ashildr, her lips twitching into a mischievous grin.“That’s revolting” scowled Clara; “anyway, we usually have two bottles... each”“Not a vampire then” said Ashildr; “case closed. Now you need to change, we’re landing...”

Chapter Two: Neither Do You

Caressing the cool blue cloth of her dress straight, Clara looked up and down the busy street. She wore a dress made by the Ship’s intelligent wardrobe, able to make any outfit from any material and pattern by means of an automated process. It was suitably long and dignified for the period, but cool and comfortable. The predominant blue, the same shade as her usual diner uniform, was trimmed with elaborate white lace. The diner, or at least the alien space and time machine that was stuck in the outward form of an American diner, had landed on a vacant square of land a short distance away from one of Cairo’s busier inner city areas. While definitely in a pre-skyscraper era, the buildings to either side were at least tall enough to offer some degree of disguise. Nonetheless, it was Clara’s opinion that fitting in and opening the restaurant would attract less attention than the mysterious building being a complete enigma. Ashildr was of the opinion that Clara could open the world’s first multiplex cinema so long as nobody got as far as the console room. As for the Ship landing on vacant land, Clara assumed that this was the case since there was no evidence of damage and nobody had arrived looking for a house that was no longer there. Of course, the Ship might have crushed a whole family to death where they sat and have compressed the rubble into the ground, but Tardis were generally quite intelligent and did not usually do that kind of thing. As for Ashildr, there was no sign of her amongst the people walking along the dusty street. Though she had lived through so much of the planet’s history first time around in so many varied guises that disguise was second nature. None of the traders or other locals, or the many military personnel, seemed to be the returning Ashildr as far as Clara could tell. Returning inside, Clara took another couple of orders from the mostly army diners and typed them into the Tardis food machine. Did the device actually synthesise all the dishes available? The model in this ship was far beyond the crude flavoured nutrition cubes turned out by the antiquated version dumped in a cupboard on board the Doctor’s vessel. Alternatively, did it cook all the meals and send them back in time to the point where the numbers had been typed into the controls? Or was it some sort of time scoop where, if you requested hamburger and fries in Cairo in 1915, it would scan history for someone about to tuck into a hamburger and fries and make their plate vanish from the table and reappear in Clara’s hands? It was hard to tell if the Tardis really did have a huge collection of different plates or whether the sonic dishwasher was actually full of stolen crockery.

*****

Ashildr crouched down behind the bush and peered slowly around its twisted branches and leaves dried in the desert heat. Behind and to both sides came the sound of orders being shouted and the tramp of army boots. From ahead came the regular thud, thud, thud of artillery shells screaming out of the mountains and blasting holes in the barren rocky landscape. Responding in the distance, with little or no hope of ever finding their concealed targets, was the occasional crack of return fire from the navy ships just off the coast. The ones that were still afloat, that was. Amidst the hundreds that surrounded her, one soldier alone was the subject of her attention. As she watched him stride out of the camp, assured that he was safe despite the apparent dangers, Ashildr reflected on the events that had brought them together.

The diner had materialised in Cairo, 1915, in a vacant plot of land conveniently close to several of the military buildings involved in putting the Empire attacks on the Middle East together. It was likely that the man she was in pursuit of would disguise himself as an officer or official of some kind, as his personal manner would make anything else difficult to maintain. Some days of walking up and down the streets had proven futile, until she had overheard a chance conversation between two members of the Australian army talking with some derision about a new English officer who seemed to have no justification for his presence. This was exactly the kind of pattern she was looking for, and the soldiers had led her unknowingly back to the Headquarters building she was looking for. Equally conveniently, a small cafe stood opposite on the same road. For two days Ashildr sat in the cafe in the dress of an Edwardian lady, telling lies about being the daughter of a diplomat on attachment in Egypt, buying occasional teas which she alternately ate to keep her energy up or gave away to the growing crowd of street children. Finally, there he was. Champion emerged and strolled down the steps dressed in the uniform of a British Army major. Since his uniform was probably stolen, Ashildr had felt that it was only fair and equal to adopt the same strategy. Breaking into the store had been one of the easiest jobs of her life, as far as she could recall anyway, and the clothing of an ANZAC private along with all the relevant kit had tumbled into the large holdall. There were no security systems, no alarms, no CCTV, not even any swipe card or barcode access. How was it that everything was not stolen at this point in history? Returning to the Tardis, Ashildr had found Clara asleep in bed and managed not to wake her as she changed out of the dress and into the uniform. It would not be necessary to fit in with an actual unit for long, merely to hang around until the relevant ship was ready for embarkation and bluff her way on board. Then keep out of the way until the landing, and follow Champion wherever he went. On arrival at the Gallipoli landing stages, Champion had made his way inland pursued every step by Ashildr. The chaos on the beach and in the low hills meant that nobody challenged either of them, and both were able to insinuate themselves into a company from the British divisions on the pretext of being separated and planning to return to their own regiments later. That evening Ashildr had thought she heard the voice of her friend Jack, a Detective Inspector from England, until she realised that he probably was not even born yet. Knowing well how war can separate people, Ashildr determined that night to make her move at the earliest opportunity the next morning.

“Why come here?” asked Ashildr, stepping out of cover; “of all the places to choose, why here?”“It suits my purpose” said Champion coolly, turning around in a calm and unperturbed manner that suggested he had known of his pursuer’s presence; “if you need to make the trail difficult to follow, head for chaos. Pass through somewhere already full of coming and going... mostly going, full of lost direction and lost hope. Then your pursuers will also lose their direction and hope. It’s a little like a dog losing the scent when you swim across a river”“Who are you calling a dog, bitch?” retorted Ashildr; “we were too quick for you, even so”“And who is we, my dear?” asked Champion; “I see only you, and you are just a girl”“Now I’m a pretty mad girl” said Ashildr; “just give me the stone and we’ll forget all about it”“Why?” asked Champion, his placid face almost breaking into a smile; “what’s the alternative?”“I kill you” said Ashildr, raising her bayoneted rifle with barely a trace of emotion“Or I kill you” said Champion, responding by pulling a service revolver and aiming it at Ashildr“An officer and a gentleman” said Ashildr, “shooting a girl, and one wearing British uniform”“But you’re forgetting...” said Champion, “that you don’t really exist here”“Neither do you” replied Ashildr, drawing the rifle back over her right shoulder while taking a swift sidestep. Champion’s revolver fired, the bullet missing its target, a fraction of a second before the rifle arced through the air like a lance and pierced his right shoulder with the bayonet blade. Ashildr grabbed the revolver as it fell and in one move blasted a lethal shot through Champion’s forehead. She could hear the sound of army boots running towards the sound of the shots and frantically went through her fallen adversary’s pockets for the stolen gem. Finding it as a voice shouted from above, Ashildr ripped the Vortex Manipulator from Champion’s wrist and strapped it around her own.“Stop there, right now!” demanded a British private as he aimed his rifle at Ashildr“Can’t stop, sorry” said Ashildr, activating the device she now wore; “places to be, people to...”

And then she was gone.

Epilogue

Ashildr rematerialised outside the locked doors of the diner. She opened them, stepped inside and locked them again behind her. Clara was dressed in very un-Edwardian attire, jeans and t-shirt, and stood behind the counter having dialled herself up an egg sandwich from the Tardis food dispenser. Ashildr really would have to find out how that worked, if living through eternity a second time began to drag. Flourishing the small wooden box and slamming it down on the counter, Ashildr nodded at the door into the depths of the Ship that presently carried a picture of The King.

“Present” said Ashildr abruptly; “open it inside, time to go. Set the controls”“What is it?” asked Clara, sandwich in one hand as it dripped egg yolk on the priceless jewel bearing wooden box held in the other; “and where do you want me to set the controls for?”“Don’t care” said Ashildr; “we can go anywhere you like. Just make it somewhere exciting”“So I can’t pop back and see Jane again?” asked Clara“Did I just say the word exciting?” Ashildr sighed“Yes” said Clara, turning and walking into the console room; “so that would be a no then”Once inside the console room, Clara flipped the box open and stared at the glowing red stone.“You shouldn’t have!” cried Clara“No” agreed Ashildr; “but if we’re BFF now, literally, then I thought I should get you something”“This is not an ordinary stone, is it?” asked Clara suspiciously.“No” agreed Ashildr again; “it’s totally unique and it’s called the Seer Stone because, if you touch it, you get transported in your mind to a vision of your own personal future. And yes, it does work on time travellers because I touched it before we came here. You like it?”“Very much so” said Clara, beaming; “thank you! I’m so sorry, I haven’t got you anything...”“No problem” said Ashildr, smiling faintly; “we have plenty of time, don’t we?”“Yes, that’s true!” agreed Clara emphatically; “see the Universe the long way around!”“So get on with it then!” shouted Ashildr, exasperated; “get the Ship moving!”

Outside, the diner slowly vanished from the Cairo roadside.

Outside of reality, the Tardis hurtled on its way towards a new adventure, the Vortex and its myriads of dimensions reverberating to the beat of Hip Hop and R&B anthems. The two woman crew pouted and pranced around opposite sides of the console dais, circling around it and maintaining steady eye contact through the transparent rotor column as it climbed and fell. The lights were turned down low and the music turned up high as the eternal sisters, a new partnership now unleashed upon the Universe, took their new wheels for a wild spin to infinity and back.

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